Tough loss for Sharan and Balaji at the Prostejov Challenger Final

Saurabh Singh | AITA

India’s Divij Sharan and N. Sriram Balaji received a tough loss at the hands of their Czech opponents Zdenek Kolar and Lukas Rosol in the doubles final of the Moneta Czech Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event, being held in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

Wild card entrants Kolar and Rosol took the match away in the tie-breaker to bring cheers to the home fans with a 6-2, 2-6, 10-6 victory.

Playing in their first final of a Challenger level event since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak earlier this year, World no 58, Sharan and World no 144, Balaji played solid tennis throughout the week but lost out on the winner’s trophy today.

Czech pair of Kolar and Rosol came out stronger in the match and won the first set comfortably, 6-2.

The Indian team returned strongly in the second set, and won 6-2, to take the match into the tie-breaker.

Winner of Euros 4,750 and 75 ranking points, the Indian team tried hard to play catch up in the tie-breaker but the Czechs capitalized at crucial points and took the championship home.